Dozmary Pool 2005

Curator: This is Richard Cook’s large-scale painting, “Dozmary Pool,” held in the Tate collection. It’s an evocative landscape, rendered with palpable impasto. Editor: There’s a muted, almost dreamlike quality to it. The colors are so restrained. It feels less like a representation of a place, and more like a memory of one. Curator: Precisely. Cook’s application of paint, its very physicality, speaks to the enduring presence of landscape in our consciousness. The horizontal composition emphasizes flatness, challenging traditional notions of depth. Editor: Dozmary Pool is linked to the legend of King Arthur—it's where he is said to have thrown Excalibur. The almost bleached-out quality of Cook's painting could symbolize the fading of myths into the distant past. Curator: That's a compelling interpretation, linking specific cultural narratives to what could otherwise be perceived as pure formalism. The semiotic interplay between signifier and signified is, in this case, richly layered. Editor: It makes you wonder about the stories our landscapes hold, visible and invisible. Curator: Indeed, and Cook's work provides ample material for considering those relationships.